Track sander



Jan. 12 1926.

-J. H.' WATTERS TRACK SANDER Filed Nov. 6 1925 ATTORNEYS the sand at the sand outlet, a condition which I Patented Jan. 12, 1926.

UNITED STATES I JOHN H. WATTERS, 01E ANNISTON. ALABAMA.

TRACK SANDER.

Application filed November 6, 1925. Eerial No. 67,334.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN H. \VA'rTEns, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Anniston, in the county of Calhoun and State of Alabama, have invented certain new and useful IIl'll)1OV6lll0Ili' in Track Sanders, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates generally to track sanders for railway rolling stock, and more particularly to that type of track sander embodying an. air nozzle, which under normal circumstances furnishes small .jets of air with the object in view of keeping the sand well stirred up and flowing freely. In all such arrangements there is likelihood of the freezing or clogging ot the ordinary sand agitating and stirring jets are commonly unable to overcome. My invention therefore proposes a track sander of the above character having a nozzle provided with a blast channel opening into the blast channel and into the sand outlet with the object in view of dislodging clogged or frozen sand at this point. In the accompanying drawing which illustrates my present invention and .forms, a part of this specification,

Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section through a sander provided with my improved invention, 7

Fi ure 2 is a transverse section taken substantlally' on the line 22 of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a detail perspective view of the valve member.

Referring now to these figures, and particularly to Figure 1, I have shown asander including a casingv 10 having a main portion and a branch 11, both cylindrical, the main portion including a sand inlet 12, and the branch 11 having a sand outlet 13. The

1 end of the main portion. of the casing opposite the sand inlet 12 is partially closed by a plugl l through which an air inlet pipe 15 extends to one end of the nozzle 16 having at its opposite end ports 17 and 18,

respectively, opening axially of the main portion and branch 11 of the casing.

4 At its air intake end, the nozzle l6 has an enlarged bore 19 and is provided adjacent to its said intake end with a side opening 20 communicating with a channel 21 in the easing 10 which opens into the branch 11 adjacent to the sand outlet 13.

lVithin the bore 19 a valve 22 is slidable under control of a spring 23 which normally holds this valve 22 against the inner end of the air inlet pipe 15 and over the side opening 20 so as to thus close the blast channel.

The valve 22 has an opening 24 extending axially therethrough and of an area equal to the combined areas-of the ports 17 and 18 so asto thus provide for the unobstructed passage of a volume ofair from the inlet pipe 15 through the barrel and through the nozzle for the normal supply of the jets of air through the ports 17 and 183, At its opposite, end the valve 22 has a tapering head 25 adapted to extend into the inner end of the stem of the nozzle when the valve is shifted forwardly within the bore 19 by the supply of an increased volume of air throu h the intake pipe 15, so that at the limit of its air actuated movement of the bore 19, the valve 22 thus cuts oif the supply of air to the ports 17 and 18, and it will be noted that in this movement the valve 22 uncovers the side opening 20 of the nozzle and thus opens the blast channel through the reception of this increased volume. of air. In this way, the nozzle and the operation of the sander itself may be controlled by the engineer through the supply of a-predetermined normal volume of for the formation of a blast channel of the nature specified. The nozzle need not extend for its entirety within the casing of the sander, as shown, but may be located externally thereof and connected by pipes thereto.

I claim:

1. A track sander having sand inlet and outlet channels, an air nozzle having an air inlet and having outlet ports opening into the sand inlet and outlet channels,' and a blast channel leading to the sand outlet channel, and a spring controlled valve normally seated in the air inlet and closing said blast channel, said valve having an opening therethrough equalling in area the areas of the said outlet ports of the nozzle to permit of the passage therethrough of a normal volume of air required for the supply of said ports, and said valve being movable by a greater volume of air against the said nozzle outlets and being movable by anincreased volume of air to open the blast channel and. close the said outlets.

3. An air nozzle for track sanders having an inlet, outlet and blast channel, a valve 7 normally seated between the inlet and outlet and closing said channel, having an opening for the passage of a normal volume of air to the outlet, and said valve being movable upon the supply of an increased volume of air to uncover the blast channel and open the latter to gt-he air inlet.

4. An air nozzle for-track sanders having an inlet, outlet and blast channel, a spring controlled valve normally closing said blast channel during passage of a normal volume of air'to the outlet, and actuated by an increased volume of air to open said blast channel to the air inlet.

5. An air nozzle for track sanders having an inlet, outlet and blast channel, a spring controlled valve normally closing said blast channel during passage of a normal volume of air to the outlet, and actuated by an increased voluiiie of air to open said blast channel to the air inlet and simultaneously close the said outlet of the nozzle.

6. An air nozzle .for track sanders, having an inlet, a normal outlet, and a blast channel, and automatic controlling means arranged to close the blast channel and open the said outlet during the supply of a normal volume of air through the inlet, and to open theblast channel and close the normal outlet when the said volume of air is increased.

J. H. WATTERS. 

